Some homeless people at the CMB area in Accra say their lives are under threat due to the circumstances they face on daily basis.
Speaking to Joy News’ Emmanuel Dzivenu, some of the women said they endure harsh weather conditions, assault and the fear of being run over by vehicles while asleep.
Aunty Ruth, a cleaner said her nephew had been crashed by a vehicle. “The truck was loaded with oranges and its break had failed crashing the head of the child who was asleep on the floor,” she stated.
She added that the kid died instantly and the body was deposited at the police hospital. “We live in constant fear of these vehicles crashing us one day.”
The homeless woman explained that even though she works, her earnings cannot afford her the luxury of renting a decent place to live and thus her circumstance has forced her to pass the night in front of shops and pavements.
Another woman said “we are always assaulted and when it rains we have no place else to be”. She called on the government to help them out.
However, affordable housing projects like the Saglemi, the Borteyman and Kpone, that are to help curb some of these situations, have either not been completed or have been left unoccupied.
Saglemie housing
Since 2010, Ghana has been tagged as experiencing a housing deficit of 1.7 million units but current trends show that the probable increase in deficit may not be because of an increase in population but due to the inability of citizens to afford houses.
Though one fundamental human right is the right to shelter, there are thousands perhaps millions of Ghanaians, sleeping rough on our streets.
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